The Choice of Faith

By Stephen J. Sullivan at www.freeimages.com

By Stephen J. Sullivan at www.freeimages.com

Why do some believe and others do not?

That sounds like an academic question to be debated in a philosophy of religion class until it is your child who does not believe.  You raised them to believe.  You taught them the truth and made sure they were a part of the church.  But they don’t believe anymore.  They make no attempt to hide it from you, even discouraging and chiding your own faith.  They blast the legalistic and narrow-minded view of the “Church of Christ.”

You cry!  You wrestle with the question, “Why do some believe and others do not?”  You pray for them, but your own faith struggles at times.

In reading Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians, I ran across this short sentence, “For not all have faith” (2 Thes. 3:2b).  Paul is speaking about the faith of the young Christians at Thessalonica and how they have accepted the gospel and are growing in the faith.  He wants them to pray for Paul and his co-workers to be “delivered from wicked and evil men.”  Then he says it!  It is like an aside to help these new naive Christians to understand that not everyone will have faith.

Faith is ultimately a choice!  It is a choice we cannot force on others, not even our kids, though we want to so badly.  It is a choice we can’t force on our spouse, our parents, our friends, or our enemies so they would be changed.  It is a choice they are making not to believe.  While there are many evidences to believe (1 Pet. 3:15), faith still comes down to a choice.

Why do some believe and others do not?  Because believers choose to trust in a Judean carpenter who taught the world a counter-culture message, claimed to be God, and was crucified on a Roman cross.  We choose to believe.  That is our answer to those who ridicule and chide our faith.  That is our answer to ourselves when we begin to wonder why we believe.  We choose!

When we choose we have the assurance of knowing as Paul says directly after, that the “Lord is faithful.  He will establish you and guard you against the evil one” (2 Thess. 3:3)

What choice are you going to make?

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1 comment

  1. I chose faith, hope, and love. Everything comes down to choice.

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